


Eric Matthews and His Post-Teenage Insecurities

by Kaitashi



Category: Boy Meets World
Genre: Eric Matthews is Insecure, Jack Hunter is Bad at Feelings, Jack and Eric being in love but they dont know it, M/M, Multi, Rachel McGuire to the Rescue, dumb boys, possibly polyamorous depending on how you look at it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-14 05:13:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29413212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaitashi/pseuds/Kaitashi
Summary: “Do you wanna tell me what’s up?” she asks softly“Oh yeah, good luck with that, I’ve been asking that for the past forty-five-”There’s a bit of shuffling, “Is Jack there?”Rachel shoots a look back at Jack to which he throws his hands in the air and stage whispers, “Oh you gotta be shittin’ me."-aka, the one where Eric is slightly attracted to Jack and he pins it off as jealousy because its the only thing that really makes sense
Relationships: Jack Hunter & Eric Matthews & Rachel McGuire, Jack Hunter/Eric Matthews (Boy Meets World)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 29





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is taking place around early season 6, for reference jack and Rachel aren't together yet and eric hasn't moved out ;)

“Eric, just come out already! I wanna understand what’s bothering you!” 

Jack was currently sitting outside the door to him and his best friends shared room in their shared apartment and Eric had been refusing to come out for the past 20 minutes for reasons that jack simply couldn’t fathom

“Let me be Jack! I can wallow in my self-pity without you here..”

Jack throws his head back in exasperation, silently cursing God for giving him the tolerance for his friend. Under normal circumstances, it would be Jack who would be on the other side of the door and Eric would be where Jack was, coaxing him to come out and telling him that all his problems were minuscule. But here he was, the roles reversed and Jack wasn’t eric so he didn’t know what to do.

“Eric,” Jack says, putting his forehead against the wall, he was so preoccupied that he didn’t hear Rachel enter the apartment. “Listen, buddy, if you don’t tell me what’s wrong I won’t know how to help you.” 

Jack hears a thud from the other side of the door and an expletive being muttered

“You good, dude?” He asks again, Eric responds with a moan and shouts “I’m fine!” 

Rachel walks up behind Jack and nearly scares the life out of him

“Jeez, give a guy a warning!” he says before pulling Rachel to the side, away from the door and hopefully away from Eric’s earshot.

“Sorry!” She giggles before looking at Jack, then the door, then back at Jack “Huh, normally it’s Eric out here and you in there, what’s got him so freaked out?” 

Jack ignores the slight blow to his dignity and answers her dreadfully. “That’s just the thing, I don’t know, he won’t tell me” He sighs crossing his arms

Rachel purses her lips for a moment before her mouth forms an ‘o’ shape and she looks down at Jack, a mix between concern and unease clouding her features. Jack just looks at her with a lack of certainty as she sails back over to the door in which Eric Matthews is currently hiding and gives it a light knock 

“Eric? Do you wanna come out for me?” there’s a beat of silence before a quiet “No..” can be heard 

Jack raises his eyebrows at Rachel and she outs up her finger, signaling for ‘one moment’  
“Do you wanna tell me what’s up?” she asks softly

“Oh yeah, good luck with that, I’ve been asking that for the past forty-five-” 

There’s a bit of shuffling, “Is Jack there?”

Rachel shoots a look back at Jack to which he throws his hands in the air and stage whispers, “Oh you gotta be shittin’ me.”

Rachel snorts before answering, “Nope, not right now, he’s in the washroom” Rachel said, like a liar.

“Is this about Jack?” Rachel presses, leaning her back up against the door, her head facing away from Jack so she could press her ear against the door still. 

‘Yes! It’s always about Jack! He’s just too... Perfect! Jack this, Jack that- Eric is here too!” 

Rachel clicks her tongue as she stands up straight, turning to face Jack “So.. let me get this straight” She says, giving Jack a slight smirk. Jack is, while flustered from the compliment, is still confused as to how Jack simply being is such an issue for Eric. 

“Jack being perfect is causing an issue for you?”

“Yes.”

“And you want him to stop being perfect?”

“Yes.”

“Because you’re insecure.”

Eric makes the most affronted noise a man could possibly make “What?! I’m not insecure. You’re insecure, I’m the most secure person here. Shut up!”

Rachel sighs, “Right.” She looks to Jack, who wears a troubled expression on his face. She walks over to him and whispers, “Let me handle this one”

Jack gives her an irked expression “Let you handle this? It’s about me why should you handle it?” 

“Because like you said you’ve been trying to handle it for the past forty-five minutes and it got you nowhere!” Rachel says, roughly putting her index finger to Jack’s chest for emphasis

“No- you know what? I’m gonna solve this the Jack way!” He says before going back over to the door,

“Hey, Hey Eric, it’s me, Jack. I’m sorry for making you feel insecure man but truth be told you aren’t anything less than perfect.” Rache, whose palm had miraculously found its way to her face, slowly looked up and gave Jack a confused but slightly prideful glare

Behind the door there’s silence and Jack takes that as his cue to continue.

“Do you never take the time to think about how you’re like the picture-perfect definition of cute?” 

To this Rachel, joins in, “Yeah Eric, Jack might be pretty but you’re always a cutie. And I hate when pretty boys like Jack make cuties like you feel bad in their own skin” 

“Hey! I didn’t do nothin’!”

There’s the sound on a doorknob turning and then a sliver of Eric’s face can be seen.

“You just called Jack pretty,” He says, narrowing his eyes

Rachel simply rolls hers and crosses her arms, “Well yeah of-fuckin-course I did. I’d be a liar if I said Jack wasn’t pretty. And I’m not a liar because I called you cute.” Rachel takes a swift look at Jack, “And so did he” 

Jack snickers, “Yeah but don’t let it get to your head” leans into the small crack that Eric was looking through, making sure to get right in his face. “Come on out and stop being dramatic alright?”

Eric lets out a chuckle before opening the door fully and taking Jack in a tight embrace “Alright.” 

Jack hugs him back tightly before looking at Rachel and mouthing a 'Thank you' She flashes him a thumbs up and a smile.

When they separate from the hug Eric looks a bit more distressed than before.

"What, What's up, what now?" Jack asks in a frenzy. Eric just makes a flurry of hand gestures before a comprehensive sentence comes out of his mouth. 

"You- y-y-you called me cute!" eric points to Rachel "And you called me cute! Maybe I'm cute!" Eric says, looking off in his own little world and smiling to himself 

Jack just shrugs at Rachel who shrugs back, "Here's hoping that this isn't a normal thing." Rachel says

"Oh and now you've gone and jinxed us, mama."


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy. If nothing else, Jack knew that whenever Eric got all defensive like this there was 100% something he was trying to hide 
> 
> "Okay, one, I lay out your clothes for you every day because your fashion sense is awful." Eric scoffs 
> 
> "And two, I know that you're, a grown man or whatever, but I just wanna know why you're wearing a hoodie in July" Jack reasons,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this part is eh. i don't really like it but I wanted to post it. I'm working on a fic called "Eric Matthews Dates Girls" no idea when that will be done. also don't ask me why the titles of all of my bmw fics have Eric Matthews in it, I don't make the rules

"Eric, it’s the dead of summer." 

Eric looks up at Jack, who had his arms crossed and was looking at Eric with slight concern 

"Yes? And?" He says. He stuffs his arms into the pockets of his black pullover and tilts his head a bit. 

"I- Dude I know it's Philly but it's hot as shit, lose the sweatshirt." 

"Are you judging me on my fashion? Jack? Unbelievable. I am my own man and I am capable of doing my own things and making my own decisions!" 

Oh boy. If nothing else, Jack knew that whenever Eric got all defensive like this there was 100% something he was trying to hide 

"Okay, one, I lay out your clothes for you every day because your fashion sense is awful." Eric scoffs 

"And two, I know that you're, a grown man or whatever, but I just wanna know why you're wearing a hoodie in July" Jack reasons, 

Eric sits back on the couch, haphazardly adjusting the sweatshirt that was causing this whole ordeal "You know, I'm wearing a hoodie because it's cold in this apartment, not outside but in here, ooh! brr!" Eric says, rubbing his hands up and down his arms and doing a fake shiver. 

Jack rolls his eyes and stands up, walking over to the thermostat. If Eric wasn't going to talk well then that was on him, but he would play his game for the time being. He cranked the heat up in the apartment "Well if you were cold you could've just said so." Jack says,

"Uh-uh, yeah..! thanks, dude." Eric sputters 

It wasn't long before Eric was sweating up a storm in his hoodie, Jack himself even had to remove his button-up and resort to just wearing his white tee. 

"Okay Eric," Jack says, watching Eric wipe the sweat off his forehead for the fifth time "Gig's up, what's going on." 

Eric sighs, and turns away from Jack "M' not sayin'" he says in a pouty voice 

"Eric..!" Jack whines "Is this one of your insecurity episodes again?" 

"Episode? Insecurity? Now, what are you on about, my friend?" Eric looked appalled, Jack took a seat next to his friend.   
"You've been wearing nothing but long sleeves for a while even though it's summer" Jack raises an eyebrow 

"Well, what can I say I love my button-ups!" 

"And even when you wear your button-up you wear a black undershirt." 

"Okay, now you're just hounding me, man, C'mon!" 

Jack gave Eric's arm a squeeze, "I'm not trying to hound you I’m just trying to get you to stop beating yourself up in the weird Eric-y way that you do!" 

Eric glares down at the spot where Jack hand rested on his arm and then looks back at Jack

"See!?" 

Jack tilted his head in confusion. "Er..No?" 

"My arm!" Eric said, gesturing wildly with his free hand "And your arm! Look at this, Look at that!" 

Jack looked down at his arm then at Eric's, which to be frank he couldn't even see because of the sweatshirt. Sure Jack had some muscle built up in his bicep and yes it was more built than Eric's but Jack could care less about all that! 

"You're.. concerned about my arms? And your arms?" 

"Yes, dude! I mean look at those things they look like they were sculpted by God." Eric says. 

Jack can't exactly help but laugh. "Good grief Eric," 

"What? Are you making fun of me when I just complimented your beautiful arms?" Eric says, 

God bless Eric for his lovely, stupid, stupid, stupid, heart. 

"Can't you just accept that we're different and you're adequate in your own way?" 

Eric looked at Jack with genuine confusion in his eyes.

"Jack." He said and that's when Jack started to get worried. "Who do you think I am? Do you think I know what adequate means?" 

Jack lets out a dry chuckle of relief and shakes his head, "Oh, don't even worry about it, dude. Just..don't bring yourself down anymore, it’s a real headache to deal with." 

"Hey!"


End file.
